petattack macro

[Rott]

I am running 3 Warlocks

Main warlock selects target
I press my petattack macro key

the macro (for the 2 following locks) is like this:
/assist MainWarlock
/petattack

For the Main Warlock the Macro is
/petattack

I'm finding, especially in instances with many nasty mobs around, that sometimes one of the pets of the 2 following locks will run off into the instance and attack another mob (maybe the next closest?) instead of the one targeted by the main . Pet then dies and brings 5 billion mobs to slay my team. Great.

So wny ideas what is wrong with the macro, its a pretty basic one right?

Thanks for your advice.

[Djarid]

Your macro for all warlocks would be better as follows:

/petattack [target=focustarget, harm]

if you designate your brain by name then use: (djarid is the character name of the brain)

/petattack [target=djarid-target, harm]

I think you are having problems because you are not allowing for the delay between your brain having a target and the server being aware that your brain has a target. And don't TAB target. The macro's above will have the pet do nothing if the brain's target is unknown by the server (delay) but if you change targets rapidly... watch out!

e.g.
Using tab target

1. You press Tab... all chars acquire a target, A = tgt1, B = tgt1, C=tgt2
2. you hit your petattack macro - but the target of your main hasn't reached the server yet so C's pet attacks tgt2
3. wipe

Not using tab target

1. you target a mob with your brain. A=tgt1, B="", C=""
2. you hit your petattack macro - but the target of your main hasn't reached the server yet so B and C's pets pick a target to attack (same mechanism as TAB targetting)
3. wipe

Until you get used to the delay, use assist and display group members targets using Pitbull - helped me big time (I now use target=focustarget mechanism though)

[Rott]

Thanks Djarid!

I will try this tonight, I dont TAB target so I guess its the second scenario you outlined.

Thanks a lot for the tips

[Negative1]

I agree with Djarid the problem is most likly that you have not gotten use to the delays that are unnoticeable while solo but are a major pain when multiboxing. Try clicking a target and waiting about .5secs or longer and then pressing your macro. There is nothing wrong with your macros right now just the server delay.

One thing I would like to add is if you place your macro in the round robin (assuming your using keyclone) you can send a different pet to each target by targeting the first target pressing the macro, targeting the second pausing for just a second and pressing the macro again then targeting another and repeating.

Good luck with your locks!

[Ughmahedhurtz]

My petattack macros all go thusly:

/assist focus
/stopmacro [noharm]
/petattack
/cast mark of ruination
/cast emote of pwnage
/cast money grubber
/etc.
/ad nauseum

The key being the "/stopmacro [noharm]" which prevents nasty unwanted side-effects of the automatic targeting aspect of /petattack. /startattack suffers from the same problem, so I have the /stopmacro [noharm] in a lot of my macros.